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Spiritual Communion 



REPRINTED FROM THE BOOK 



"SPIRITUAL SCIENCE" 




Copyrighted by the Author 

OLIVER LORAINE WROUGHTON 

Kansas City^ Mo. 



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STATE SPIRITUALISTS' ASSOCIATION 

OF MISSOURI 

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Copyrighted 191 8 
OUVER LORAINE WROUGHTON. 

Copyrighted 19 19 
OWVER LORAINE WROUGHTON. 



OtC -8 1919 

©CU562084 



Address Dr. Otto Vierling, State Secretary of the 
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SOURI, 4555 Adkins Avenue, St. I/)uie, Mo., for 
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ture, books, leaflets, subscriptions to Spiritualists' 
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Donations in support of the work will be gladly re- 
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SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 153 



ChapTe^r VIII. 



SPIRITUAL COMMUNION. 

Facing God and living truth and the law of 
giving purifies the physical man, regenerates 
and educates the mental man, and illuminates 
the spiritual man with the gifts of inspiration, 
prophecy, spiritual communion, healing, and 
the working of miracles, into an understand- 
ing of God's Divine plan for the perfection of 
mankind as a spiritual being manifesting the 
Divine. 

Usually a form of worship carries no au- 
thority with mankind, except when its teach- 
ings come from some Source, or pretended 
Source, beyond the common knowledge of 
man. There are many manifestations of 
phenomena claiming to be message-bearers 
from on high. The usual test of genuine- 
ness applied to one claiming unusual powers 
is to determine whether or not the message 
he brings is one of truth and beyond the av- 
erage knowledge and experience of mankind. 



154 SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 

If the intellectual worth of that claimed as 
truth, coming through any form of phenom- 
ena or inspiration, is within the experience 
of average men and women, nothing can be 
gained therefrom. 

If phenomena are beyond the ordinary 
intelligence, and in harmony with truth and 
experience, mankind in a general way may 
be benefitted through their manifestations. 
Phenomena demanding investigation in this 
regard are suggestion, healing, telepathy, con- 
sciousness, sub-conscious mind, apparitions, 
mediumship, and coincidental dreams. 

The establishing of faith and confidence 
in the laws of Nature, as they are ordained 
and balanced by a Creator of perfect intelli- 
gence, as against the belief in a capricious 
interference^with natural laws, by a limited 
and undependable Creator, has at all times 
been the criterion of culture. 

Religion is a code of ethics, f oimded upon 
a belief in God and the brotherhood of man. 
Religion is the product of man. Truth is the 
work of God, 



SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 155 

There are many branches of religion 
which surround their fundamental premises 
with much form and ceremony, all of which 
are designed to stimulate belief, faith, and 
obedience; but primarily the foundation of 
reHgion is the belief that the individual pos- 
sesses a soul, which, through faith and obedi- 
ence, may be sustained throughout eternity c 
Christianity accepts the Christ as the one ex- 
ample of faith, understanding, obedience, and 
righteousness. 

The two original and fundamental prem- 
ises upon which all religious claims in their 
final analyses are founded are Materialism 
and Spiritualism. Materialism holds that 
all phenomena are of matter, whether phys- 
ical, mental, or psychic. The distinction be- 
tween Materialism and Spiritualism begins 
with the distinction between efficient and 
material cause. Material cause is the sub- 
stance or material out of which things are 
made or manifested. Efficient cause is the 
force, power, intelligence, or agent which 
puts them together. The material cause of 



156 SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 

a machine is the iron out of which it is made; 
the efficient cause is the man who invented 
and made it. 

Materialism originally taught that the 
soul was composed of the finer elements and 
that it is dissolved with the physical body and 
returned to its prime condition upon the 
death of the individual. This belief is ex- 
actly opposite to the natural inclination of 
mankind to desire continuous and eternal 
consciousness. 

Later, materialism claimed to discover 
the indestructibility of matter and the con- 
servation of energy. Materialism then at- 
tempted to establish the atom or element as 
a permanent basis of things, and to connect 
with this the entity of motion or energy. 
This premise contends that matter is the 
eternal thing and intelUgence its function. 
Materialism then gave up the idea of the ex- 
istence of a soul as a part of its claim and 
belief, and claims that intelligence is a func- 
tional action. 

The fundamental idea of Materialism is 



SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 157 

that all organic things are composed of dif- 
ferent elements compounded and which at 
the discession of the phenomena of life dis- 
solve themselves into the original elements 
which constitute them, whether visible or in- 
visible. 

Materialists who admit the existence of a 
soul contend that its consciousness is the 
result of a composition and combination of 
matter, and that it manifests as the light in 
burning gas is the result of burning oxygen 
and carbon; but that it ceases to exist upon 
the death of the physical body, as the light 
disappears when the combination of gas, air, 
and fire are extinguished. 

Materialism contends that it is an eter- 
nal principle that causes certain union and 
combination of matter to manifest life. At 
first glance, this appears to be a very sound 
and substantial premise, and many have 
been led from the path of righteousness and 
a belief in God as principle, person, and in- 
telligence by its apparent reality. 

The earlier Spiritual teachers affirmed 



158 SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 

that the soul is attached to the physical body, 
and that upon the dissolution of the physical 
body the soul (or mind) exists for a time in a 
consciousness of purification, and that the 
finer elements of mind arise to the heavens 
as spirit, thus giving rise to the doctrine of 
sainthood, and basing this belief upon the 
theory that heavy matter settles to the earth 
and lighter matter rises upward, thus reason- 
ing that the soul mind does not perish with 
the body. This philosophy also affirmed the 
existence of a Prime Mover, or First Cause, 
and that matter cannot move itself, but is 
influenced in all its combinations by a Divine 
Intelligence. 

Spiritual Science rejects the belief of Ma- 
terialism, alleging and affirming that God is 
spirit and that the human soul is immortal. 
It seeks to establish as the Moving Cause 
indivisible and invisible substance which is 
termed ''spirit,'' and the resurrection of 
those who pass beyond the physical body 
in right belief and faith into a consciousness 
of life eternal, relying upon the demonstra- 



SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 159 

tion of Jesus Christ to establish the law of 
eternal life as a part of a Divine plan, which 
is confirmed by life and its phenomena. It 
refuses to admit that any combination of 
matter and substance could be eternal, and 
regards the very atoms of our existence 
physically, as created through intelligence 
and the powers of Divine thought and mind, 
thus opening the way for a spiritual exist- 
ence and identity, which it terms the ''ethe- 
real background of all things/' 

In recent years some have gone still far- 
ther and denied the existence of matter, al- 
leging that all is spirit and its manifesta- 
tions, substance and life. 

Spiritual Science contends and claims 
that matter and mind have no common prop- 
erty, and that neither consciousness nor sub- 
stance depends upon matter. Hence the 
philosophy of Spiritual Science requires a 
soul as its fundamental and basic reality, 
with spirit as the foundation. A final con- 
clusion among many believing in Christianity 
is that substance and mind are so different 



i6o SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 

in their construction that they are not capa- 
ble of acting one with or upon the other. 
In the face of this final conclusion, the con- 
stant testimony of things as they exist in 
Nature causes it to appear most evident 
that they either do so act together and upon 
each other or objectively seem to do so. 

Whatever we behqjd of Nature, and 
whether or not we believe there is any re- 
ality in Cosmos (God), the ordinary testi- 
mony of human experience finds conscious- 
ness associated with physical structure, and 
has no common knowledge of existence apart 
from association with the physical body. 
Without the application of faith in our con- 
sciousness, we can never have any vision of 
the principles of intelligence and realities in 
the universe, which are eternal. Denying 
Materialism does not disprove it; afiirming 
Spiritual Science does not prove it. The 
proper thing to do is to think, concentrate, 
and apply our intelligence with faith, that 
we may individually, through the law of 
spiritual unfoldment, gain a true under- 



SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. i6i 

standing of the eternal manifestation of the 
soul and the reality of a Divine Creator. 

It is certain that physical, mental, or 
psychic phenomena can be no higher than 
the degree of intelligence of the medium 
through which it is produced; and while 
communications may bring information of 
things unknown to either the medium or 
his audience, knowledge and intelligence are 
different conditions, and intelligence must 
precede knowledge. Phenomena rightfully 
can go no farther than help to explain the 
natural law of things and establish evidence 
of the continuity of life; and when we have 
been converted to believe that there is life 
and individuality after this plane of con- 
sciousness, our faith is established, and we 
will fall upon our knees and worship God, 
repent of our sins, and begin life anew, 
serving both God and man; otherwise, we 
are still skeptics or become mere phenomena- 
worshipers. 

The intelligent mind realizes that apart 
from scientific phenomena there is no evi- 



i62 SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 

dence of a survival of the individual after 
passing beyond the physical body. Thus 
Spiritual Science must strike swords with 
Materialism and, to succeed, establish logi- 
cal evidence of the existence of a soul as its 
fundamental principle. 

However, we are not confined to that 
which may be obtained through communica- 
tions as evidence of immortality. There are 
many phenomena of life testifying to the 
reality of eternal life. 

Originally the term ''Spiritualist" de- 
noted one who believed that man is an im- 
mortal soul, created in the image and IjUce- 
ness of God; later this term was adopted by 
certain people whose understanding of Spir- 
itualism was only to the extent of believing 
in the possibility of communication with the 
dead, and whose fundamental basic principle 
of action was the exercising of such phe- 
nomena as apparitions, mediumship, and 
dreams — relying upon this form of phenom- 
ena alone to prove eternal Ufe. The original 
idea of Spiritualism was Idealism; but the 



SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 163 

common mind being unable to follow Ideal- 
ism, and, like doubting Thomas, demand- 
ing testimony tangent to the physical senses, 
its philosophy branched off into material 
phenomena, and this class of operators be- 
gan to call these phenomena ''Spiritualism''; 
undertaking to separate them from reUgion 
and the doctrine of faith, and going no farther 
than the material phenomena, which were 
offered as a sort of hope for eternal life, which 
the mental or psychic could not supply. 

The true Spiritual disciple is one whose 
attitude toward and belief in God and a 
futtire life urges him toward righteous living, 
includes ethical and moral conduct, love, 
reverence, faith, hope, and obedience, tends 
towards his elevation of thought, depend- 
ing upon spiritual unfoldment, in harmony 
with truth and the will of God, as a source 
of strength and inspiration. This is the 
teaching of Spiritual Science. 

Agnostic Idealism is intellectual; and 
philosophy and artistic attitude does not 
necessarily believe in Divine immortality 



i64 SPIRITUAL SCIENCB. 

but depends on the intellect alone as the 
source of its strength and inspiration. 

Among some people Spiritualism and its 
phenomena have developed into a form of 
ancestral worship, depending entirely upon 
guides for protection and counsel, in disre- 
gard of intelligence and reason. Its medi- 
ums, who fail to follow the example of Christ 
or to recognize the necessity of expelling im- 
morality, fraud, and unrighteous unconscious 
control from their midst, do not seem to 
understand that the way of immortality is 
of little importance unless associated with 
moral character and eternal happiness. 

Thinking teachers and educators, or the 
public, will not listen to illiterate demon- 
strators, much less respect revelation coming 
from hysterical and uneducated mediums, 
and far less from frauds who have no apology 
for their conduct. Nevertheless, while there 
is much confusion, turmoil, misapplication, 
and misunderstanding surrounding the mani- 
festations of phenomena, yet there are fund- 
amental psychic laws, which can be applied 
to attain certain and dependable results. 



SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 165 

In investigating Spiritual Communion, it 
is personal identity and intelligent declara- 
tions of truth and philosophy that interest 
us most. 

Some teachers claim that under any theory 
of its existence the soul may change 
its personality and lose its sense of personal 
past identity. Spiritual Science teaches that 
to prove the continuity of life we must iden- 
tify and prove that a soul has memory of 
its past experience. We must prove the sur- 
vival of personal consciousness and its knowl- 
edge of personal identity. This requires 
that we obtain facts and phenomena amen- 
able to intelligence and reason which will 
prove the identity of the particular person 
claiming to survive. This is both a religious 
and a scientific problem, which lays the foun- 
dation for a true religious premise. 

The only answer to Materialism is to 
establish intelligent communion with and 
the reality of the so-called '*dead.'' If Jesus 
of Nazareth did not return to the disciples 
after the crucifixion, the whole structure of 



i66 SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 

the Christian religion and continuity of life 
falls to the ground. 

In our lives we do not know what con- 
sciousness is, yet we know that we are con- 
scious. We have no direct knowledge of 
how we think, although we know that we 
have power to think. I do not know that 
you are conscious — I can only judge from 
your conduct. We can only know that there 
is a God by reasoning from design or per- 
ceiving through faith. 

The Materialist can only deny that there 
is a hereafter; he cannot prove that con- 
sciousness ceases at death. His belief in an- 
nihilation eliminates his power to deny. He 
must survive to affirm his non-survival. We 
are certain of the disappearance of the hu- 
man body or physical organism; and if we 
fail to prove the continuity of the soul, Ma- 
terialism has won the victory, and we are 
eternally lost. 

If communication with and the reality 
of the so-called *'dead'' can be scientifically 
and with certainty established, we have gone 



SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 167 

beyond the realm of Materialism, and es- 
tablished a reality which is beyond the com- 
prehension of material mind or entity. If 
we refuse to consider communion with the 
so-called ''dead/' we eliminate the possibil- 
ity of the strongest evidence of our hope for 
eternal life. 

The real problem is to eliminate imma- 
terial evidence and establish evidence with 
moral fiber and intelligence; and logically 
we are entitled to consider and introduce 
the moving of physical objects without con- 
tact, suggestive healing, materialization, ap- 
parition, mind-reading, telepathy, medium- 
ship, clairvoyance, super-normal conception, 
dousing, dreams, automatic writing, inspir- 
ational vSpeaking, sub-conscious mental and 
psychic phenomena, genius, or any other 
phenomena unexplainable through the prem- 
ise of Materialism. 

Spiritual Communion must establish 
super-normal existence, experience, knowl- 
edge, and intelligence; it must also estab- 
lish the identity of individuals claiming to 



i68 SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 

demonstrate or commune spiritually, psychic- 
ally, or mentally in the form of instances 
which are memories of the former life of 
those claiming to survive, unknown to any 
living person, but which can be proven to 
reasonable minds, or by tangible evidence. It 
may establish a law of foretelling the future 
as well as the individual inspiration of truth. 
A revelation is always something which 
exists now, and not something to come to 
pass in the future. If God had desired that 
we should know all things to come to pass 
in the future. He would have provided us 
with a constant gift of discernment, out of 
which we could get this information in our 
normal state of consciousness. The truth 
is, that that which is to come is locked in 
the secret consciousness of God, and if He 
wants you to know, and you are worthy, you 
will understand what is to happen in the fu- 
ture, and will have no need to go to a me- 
dium to find out. If you desire to know 
what will come to pass, get down on your 
knees and sincerely pray to God for what 



SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 169 

you want, and, if you are entitled to it, it 
will be given, and you can know that it wiU 
happen as well beforehand as after it comes 
to pass. If we believe that the future can 
be foretold, we must believe in fatahsm. If 
the future is foreordained, why should we 
worry about what is to come that must come? 
If things are set out for our future, what is 
the advantage of being able to think? Ex- 
perience has many times demonstrated that 
people who devote their entire time to look- 
ing into the future will always neglect the 
present. The most contemptible, wicked, 
vulgar, and unpardonable crime in this con- 
nection is to be constantly predicting dark 
conditions or misfortune to others or your- 
self. Spiritual Science teaches that true 
prophecy is seldom received by one who is 
always inquiring about the future. Prophecy 
is voluntary, and cannot be forced by lead- 
ing questions. We must do our share that 
prophecy may be fulfilled. 

There is no reason why a man who has 
passed beyond the physical body should 



I70 SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 

know much more about the future than a 
man who is yet subject to physical law. 
Also communication presuming to come from 
the world beyond, which tells you something 
you already know, while it may become a 
part of a chain of evidence, does not prove 
eternal life. This eliminates all manifesta- 
tions, communications, or phenomena not 
related to the personal identity of the so- 
called ''dead/' All mental or psychic phe- 
nomena, telepathy, suggestive healing, phe- 
nomena of the subconscious mind, conscious 
or subconscious mediumship, to become rele- 
vant, must bring knowledge not otherwise 
attainable. 

However, spiritual communion may con- 
firm many things which we already know and 
believe; but each student must make his 
own investigation and judge their reality 
and intelligence. The great problem is to 
prove the continuity of life and to learn 
what we must do, and how we must live, to 
fulfill the law of eternal life. 

The present consciousness is quite as mys- 



SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 171 

terious as any supposed or established future 
consciousness. The subconscious mind is 
composed of all the thoughts or impressions 
that have ever passed through the conscious 
mind, through observation, conception, in- 
spiration, suggestion, expansion by faith, or 
endowment by our Creator. 

Spiritual communion is made possible 
through the liberation of the subconscious or 
soul mind through conscious auto-suggestion. 

When we pass beyond the physical body 
in the event of so-called ''death,'' the soul 
mind becomes eternally conscious. Psychic 
development is bringing the soul mind into 
consciousness through the action of faith and 
suggestion. Phenomena may be produced 
by submerging the objective mind and leav- 
ing the subjective mind subject to the sug- 
gestions given it — or by holding the sug- 
gestion in the objective mind while retaining 
individual consciousness- 

The subjective mind solves all problems; 
acting upon the suggestions given it, whether 
the objective mind be submerged or retained, 



172 SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 

through the action of telepathy, perception, 
conception, intuition, and inspiration. The 
soul reasons by deduction only. Perception 
is soul sight; conception is soul hearing; in- 
tuition is soul touch, tasting, and smelling; 
inspiration is soul reasoning; telepathy is the 
application of all these soul senses in soul 
communion as conditions may require. The 
soul is a separate entity apart from the men- 
tal or physical man, and does not depend on 
either for its existence or continuity. 

There are many instances where the soul 
of an individual has passed beyond the phys- 
ical body during sleep, sickness, or supposed 
death, and again returned to normal action. 

Scientific research and psychic phenom- 
ena have many times revealed the power 
of the souls of individuals, in life, to com- 
municate with each other. In many instan- 
ces individuals have mistaken these commu- 
nications for messages from the so-called 
"dead." 

Since it has been many times demon- 
strated that communication can be had be- 



SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 173 

tween the souls of the living, and that the 
soul does not depend on the physical body 
for its existence, it is not a radical conclusion 
to say that communication can be had be- 
tween the souls of the living and the so- 
called ''dead''; yet it is important that one 
should not be mistaken for the other. 

To be of value, communication with those 
who have passed beyond the physical body 
must bring us knowledge and experience 
which cannot be easily obtained by or 
through those living in the physical body. 
If these communications do not elevate as 
well as bring us superior knowledge and ex- 
perience, they should be discarded. If a 
form of communication can be found which 
does benefiit and bring us a superior knowl- 
edge and experience, it should be developed 
and cultivated and put into practical service. 

The kind of spiritual communion that can 
he most depended upon, and which we can 
know comes from the world beyond, is that 
which we bring to ourselves individually through 
the law of silence, concentration, desire, sug- 
gestion, and right thinking. 



174 SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 

When the soul is developed, it is in har- 
mony with the souls of the living and the 
so-called ''dead/' When we are able to 
bring our objective and conscious self into 
harmony with our subjective or soul mind, 
we are in touch with all life, all truth. This 
is truly spiritual communion. It inspires us 
to righteousness; it strengthens our faith; it 
convinces us that life is eternal; it teaches us 
the way; it shows us our mission; it brings 
us health, prosperity, and success. We can 
attain it as individuals. 

When the soul of a medium is bound by 
an erroneous suggestion, and under uncon- 
scious unrighteous control, it cannot mani- 
fest in harmony with the law of truth. 

When the soul of an individual is liber- 
ated through right thinking, right desire, 
right suggestion, and a right connection be- 
tween the subjective and objective minds 
during a state of perfect consciousness, or 
under proper control, it is in possession of 
all truth. 

We would expect religion to seize upon 



SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. i75 

any evidence of immortality and analyze it 
to the uttermost; but modern religion seems 
to resist proof of the survival of the so-called 
'*dead/' being satisfied by blind belief and 
blind faith. While belief and faith are es- 
sential to eternal life, yet it is also necessary 
that we have understanding; otherwise we 
could not enjoy eternal life. Eternal life 
is of no value except it bring us eternal hap- 
piness. Eternal happiness demands under- 
standing of the laws of its existence and act- 
uaUty. This understanding comes through 
individual spiritual communion — soul com- 
muning with soul, seeking truth and the laws 
of righteousness, and through an understand- 
ing of these laws manifesting its desire for 
eternal happiness. 

The appeal to consciousness as the final 
test of truth carries with it the implication 
that it is the present that bears the golden 
treasures of the past and the future. 

Faith is good, experience is better; but 
faith based upon experience and reason is 
absolute. Our conduct is based either upon 



176 SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 

fear or reason. Belief, faith, experience, 
and reason will guide us to the true road 
of eternal happiness, and spiritual com- 
munion will sustain us upon the highway of 
eternal life forever. 

He who, through faith and the power of 
suggestion, arouses his own soul to claim its 
own, can, with knowledge of the demonstra- 
tion and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, 
demonstrate the true spiritual communion. 

Spiritual Science teaches that when the 
soul leaves the body it does not change, but 
that it retains its knowledge, habits, inclina- 
tions, desires, and experiences, and that it is 
able to think, act, and enjoy. The real self 
is developed more through the power of 
thought and properly directed action than 
in any other manner. The true test of char- 
acter is courage and capacity. Thoughts of 
truth build up the inner man; thoughts of 
selfishness can accomplish nothing for us or 
for others. 

What we really are depends on what we 
really think. Faith and love are the keys 



SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. i77 

to salvation. We must learn to love the 
Lord God with all our hearts, and our neigh- 
bor as ourselves. Christ overcame death 
and sin through the laws of faith and love. 
True faith in God was the great lesson which 
Jesus of Nazareth taught to mankind. We 
can help ourselves most when we learn to 
help others. Love purifies us and strength- 
ens us to overcome sin. How few people 
realize the power of love ! 

Spiritual communion is the science of re- 
ceiving truth from righteous spiritual beings, 
who are continually around and about us. 
Christ was a perfect spiritual being before 
He was incarnated in the flesh as a messenger 
of Divine thought and truth. His life dem- 
onstrated the law of spirituality, both to 
those in the flesh and those who had passed 
beyond the flesh. Jesus did not impair His 
spiritual consciousness by being born into 
the flesh and manifesting through physical 
structure. 

God is revealed to us through thoughts of 
love, faith, and service. Spiritual beings wh^ 



178 SPIRITUAIy SCIENCE. 

serve us awaken their love for God and 
His creatures just as we, by serving our 
fellow-men, awaken love for God and our 
fellow-men. But we are taught by the 
prophets of old not to seek one with a fa- 
miUar spirit. A familiar spirit is one who, 
in the flesh or having passed beyond the 
flesh, presumes to be one of authority and 
assumes Divinity, or to be familiar with God. 
God is no respecter of persons. A serving 
spirit is one who seeks to inspire us with 
more faith in God and a greater love for Him 
and all His creatures. 

AH individuals who live in or out of the 
flesh possess a soul; and when that soul has 
become awakened to a realization of truth, 
the individual has entered into the realm of 
spirituality. 

Ignorance prevails among those who have 
passed beyond the body, just as ignorance 
prevails among men and women in their 
present earthly state of consciousness. Phe- 
nomena testify of the sufferings of ignorance 
beyond, compared with which the orthodox 
Hell is a mere playhouse. 



SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 179 

I cannot conceive of stronger evidence 
that there is a Hell than the testimony 
of some ''departed spirits''; neither can I 
imagine a better example of the horrors of 
Hell than the result of unrighteous spiritual- 
istic advice, which in itself is the visiting of 
the most terrible Hell in our very midst. 

When we enlarge our opportunities and 
possibilities we also enlarge our temptations. 
When you break the soil, it will grow both 
weeds and flowers. He who would possess 
the rose must pujl the weeds and preserve 
the flower. We must always remember that 
we cannot grow beyond our ability to protect 
ourselves against error ^ sin, and temptation. 

We must not desire to grow too fast. As 
we unfold, we must open our consciousness 
to the realization of all good. Faith must 
become our sword, and understanding our 
shield, while love must be oiu: guide and 
protector. 

Jesus loved all mankind and desired that 
all love Him. Each individual must be his 
own savior, following the example of Jesus 



i8o SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 

of Nazareth. No one is capable of judging 
his brother. You cannot judge the color of 
my garment by the color of my shadow. 
You cannot say what is hidden in a man's 
heart. Judge not a man by the name of his 
church. But what he does and how he wor- 
ships is of great importance. Only God is 
in possession of all truth. Spiritual com- 
munion cannot originate truth, but when we 
come into harmony with the spiritual con- 
sciousness, we are able to find truth. He 
who develops faith will find God. He who 
attains understanding will find truth. He 
who cultivates love will discover his mission 
in the world. 

We must establish truth within ourselves 
before we can have spiritual communion with 
those who are in perfect understanding of 
truth. We must not mistake material phe- 
nomena for spiritual communion. When we 
hear material phenomena testifying concern- 
ing happiness beyond this life of those who 
dissipated in this life, in which we witness 
the law that dissipation brings sorrow, we 



SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. i8i 

can certainly know that this testimony is 
not true spiritual communion. 

He who would attain perfect spiritual 
communion must not crowd God out of his 
life. We cannot commune with the angel 
of truth and deny God at the same time. 
We must learn to cultivate the Divine within 
ourselves. The infinite spirit of God is all 
around and about us. We cannot attain 
spiritual communion until we learn to send 
good thoughts to our enemies. We must 
hold thoughts of good for others as well as 
for ourselves. Thoughts of good are in har- 
mony with truth, and will bring positive 
results. Thoughts of selfishness or revenge 
intended to bring sorrow to others will only 
return to us with that which we expected 
to accomplish against our neighbor. 

If we expect to attain spiritual com- 
munion and inspiration of truth, we must 
spend some of our time in silent meditation 
about God. We might as well expect to get 
a drink of pure water out of a mud-hole 
as to receive a communication from God 



i82 SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 

through an instrument whose life does not 
demonstrate the principles and teachings of 
Jesus Christ. 

Many times we have failed to reach our 
loved ones because they cannot reach us 
by means of the instrument through whom 
we seek, and while we are being fed on the 
husks of fraud, deceit, and the phenomena 
of ignorant mind, they weep for our deliver- 
ance. Had we purified our own lives and 
silently meditated about God, we could have 
received the message of spiritual communion 
from our loved ones and from the angels of 
truth, direct and individually. 

That which we receive as truth for our- 
selves, through ourselves, we can verify as 
reality; that which we receive through others 
must be measured by our belief in their sin- 
cerity and understanding; otherwise it is sub- 
ject to doubt and conjecture. 

The object of life is to develop the Divine 
within ourselves. It is idolatry to depend 
on a spirit as our entire soiu'ce of guidance. 
God has established the law of spiritual com- 



SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 183 

munion in order that we may receive the 
proof of eternal life as a reward for faith. 
But it would only be a curse to us to have 
a spirit to guide us in everything we do; it 
would be like a mother always carrying her 
child — it could never learn to walk. We 
must remember that spiritual beings are not 
omniscient because they have laid the phys- 
ical body aside. We must remember the 
teachings of Jesus when He said: ''God is 
not the God of the dead, but of the living.'' 
A righteous spiritual being can only desire 
to lead us into truth and understanding so 
that we may, as individuals, perform our 
mission in the world. A spiritual being who 
would presiune to do our work for us would 
thereby deprive us of the privilege of salva- 
tion, and we would become as dead men and 
women. Jesus said: ''Whatsoever a man 
soweth, that shall he also reap.*' God has 
made the law so that each must reap ac- 
cording to his work. 

Those who have passed beyond the phys- 
ical body and who are yet bound by ignorant 



i84 SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 

mind are not competent to guide us into the 
path of truth. Spiritual communion is not 
Spiritism or spirit worship or phenomena 
worship. Spiritual communion is coming 
into harmony with the law of spirituality 
and eliminating all consciousness of error 
and ignorant mind. Through the use of 
spiritual communion we can commune with 
souls of righteousness. To depend on the 
manifestations of material phenomena for 
otir source and guidance is violating the 
first commandment: ''Thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God with all thy hearty and with all 
thy soul, and with all thy mind.'' ''Thou shalt 
have no other Gods before me, ' ' saith the Lord. 
This is the first commandment. Spiritual 
cormnunion keeps this commandment. Phe- 
nomena-worshipers violate it. "For God is 
not the author of confusion.'' 

There are four classes of individuals who 
communicate with the next world: First, 
those whose independence of character and 
self-reliance has been destroyed by spirits 
who insist on guiding their every step; sec- 



SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 185 

ond, those who are mere ctiriosity - seekers ; 
third, those who wish to perpetuate sinful 
relation, and who seek familiar spirits; 
fourth, those who seek truth, light, and un- 
derstanding that they may be enabled to 
walk alone and develop their own spiritual- 
ity, character, manhood, and womanhood 
through the silent communion of soul to soul 
in righteous thought. 

Do not seek to see across the border until 
you are sure that the sorrow and shame there 
will not overbalance you. Do not ask for 
power and authority until you are sure that 
you can control it properly. Do not try to 
force your spiritual development. Remem- 
ber, a blossom plucked too soon will never 
become fruit and soon decays. A lost soul is 
one who is bound by misconception and error. 

Spiritual communion depends on the pur- 
ification of the physical man, the education 
of the mental man, and the liberation of the 
spiritual man. The first principle which must 
be developed and applied as a part of our- 
selves to attain spiritual communion is faith, 



i86 SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 

which must be brought into proper action 
through constructive suggestion. The use of 
suggestion must be controlled by thoughts 
of truth. We must also open our soul with 
the thought of love for our fellow-men. 

The five primary laws of preparation for 
spiritual communion are: Interest, Classifi- 
cation, Association, Concentration, and Elim- 
ination. Interest is voluntary and invol- 
untary. Through voluntary interest we de- 
velop involuntary interest. Voluntary in- 
terest is that which we hold for ourselves 
through the operation of auto-suggestion ; in- 
voluntary interest is that which we develop 
as a part of our nature through the desire 
for truth and understanding. 

Classification is the ability within our- 
selves to analyze ourselves and ascertain 
where to build, and how to eliminate error. 
We must become able to see our own faults 
before we can overcome them. We must 
learn to know where to build and how to 
overcome in order to establish truth within 
our consciousness. 



SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 187 

Association is developing that power 
within ourselves to affiliate ourselves with 
that which will bring us all good, and learn- 
ing to draw good from that with which we 
come in touch. 

Concentration is learning to centralize 
and control oiu: attention, interest, and de- 
sire, and directing our powers and forces to- 
ward the principle of harmony and the at- 
tainment of truth and understanding, de- 
veloping our own soul through the law of 
silent meditation. 

Elimination is learning to discard error, 
preparing us to build upon truth. 

Spiritual communion is more than com- 
munidation with spirit beings or spiritual 
entities, and must include the developing of 
individual soul capacity, bringing us into 
harmony with higher inspiration through 
the laws of purification, education, and lib- 
eration. 

To attain spiritual communion we must 
learn to think right, seek right, live right, and 
to be right, developing within om-selves pure 



i88 SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 

habits, cheerful attitude; and surrounding 
ourselves with orderly conditions, pure at- 
mosphere, and a state of quietude. 

We must first become interested in the 
importance of self-development before we 
can develop and grow. After we have 
learned the value of self-development, we 
must learn to classify ourselves and eliminate 
our faults and enlarge our virtues. We must 
associate ourselves with others who believe 
in the law of righteousness and its reward. 
We must concentrate and centralize our 
powers and bring ourselves all good, realizing 
that concentration will pierce the condition 
of error and establish the eternal truth in 
our consciousness, just as the sunlight dis- 
solves the snowflake by the wayside or van- 
quishes the darkness of the cave. 

When we have learned to discover truth 
through the law of concentration, we are on 
the road to knowledge and understanding, 
and will become able to eliminate that which 
we do not need, and build into our own 
lives and character the reality of that 



SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 189 

which we do need. Gaining knowledge is 
the process of eliminating error and discov- 
ing truth. 

Spiritual communion brings the proper 
attainment of that which is higher than our- 
selves through the use of silent concentra- 
tion, building the physical, mental, and spir- 
itual reality within our individual conscious- 
ness. These become the man four - square 
and the message-bearers of inspirational truth. 

We must learn that thoughts are things; 
that thoughts centered and crystallized be- 
come ideas; that thoughts centered, crystal- 
Uzed, and expressed become knowledge; and 
that thoughts centered, crystallized, express- 
ed, and applied become wisdom and under- 
standing. 

Spiritual communion is the foundation of 
prophecy and the forerunner of a new day — 
the dawn of greater and better things for 
ourselves and hmnanity. 

The Scriptures tell us: ''Beloved, believe 
not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether 
they are of God; because many false prophets 



I90 SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 

are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye 
the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth 
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God, 
and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus 
Christ is come in the flesh is not of God." 

To receive a spiritual message of truth 
and righteousness through the law of spiritual 
communion, we must bring ourselves in at- 
tune and in harmony with truth and right- 
eousness having proper attitude. 

Spiritual inspiration depends on the 
knowledge of the oneness of God and the 
allness of spirit. Critical science can ques- 
tion religion, and divide the acorn into its 
elements and destroy its life principle, but it 
cannot put it together again and re-create 
the acorn. Where and what life and spirit 
are it cannot tell. The testimony of departed 
spirits is beautiful and inspiring, but it is 
more wonderful to have the knowledge of 
spirituality within our consciousness, wherein 
we can realize the reaUty of eternal life, with 
the understanding that we are spiritual beings 
who can see God in Natture, in man, in our- 



SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 191 

selves and beyond the veil. Spirituality 
recognizes God in the thorn as well as in 
the rose. 

The only way to Heaven and eternal 
happiness is to learn to think right, to live 
right, to breathe right, to eat right, and to 
serve right — fulfilling our mission in the 
world. 

The beginner must live by faith alone; 
but maturity is attained when we learn to 
choose our own spiritual food with knowl- 
edge and imderstanding. When we are first 
born into the consciousness of spirituality, 
we can only behold the wondrous phenomena 
of Nature, and with faith trust God to com- 
plete the great work of creation; but when 
our spiritual eyes are fully opened, we begin 
to realize and understand that God has al- 
ready completed the work of Nature, and all 
that remains unfinished is our service to our 
Creator. Nature is the first testimony of 
God's Divine power and authority. We may 
excuse ourselves and mystify oiu* fellow- 
men, but we cannot deceive God or avoid the 



192 SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 

laws of righteousness. We plant the seed, 
but God must grow the tree and produce the 
blossom and the fruit. To sow the seed of 
spirituality, we must live the life of a Naz- 
arene. Ignorant mind cannot be harmonized 
with perfect mind, but the atonement of 
truth overcomes and eliminates error, mis- 
conception, and ignorance, and establishes 
the reality of spiritual life, which is in har- 
mony and in constant communion with Di- 
vine Intelligence. 

Sentiment has no part in the law of right- 
eousness, but a desire for knowledge and un- 
derstanding is pleasing to Divine Intelligence. 
He who cannot see the wisdom of following 
the path of duty will be unable to enjoy the 
reward of service. We must be able to 
recognize God in Nature, to recognize Na- 
ture as God's work and creation, before the 
avenue will open for higher understanding 
and the attainment of truth. 

To deny the reality of Nature is to deny 
the reality of God. To deny the reaUty of 
physical structiure is to deny the reaUty of 



SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. i93 

God. To deny the reality of finite mind is 
to deny the reaUty of Infinite Mind. Finite 
mind, purified by right thinking, is to sow 
the seed of Hfe in the field of righteousness. 
Finite mind is not ignorant mind. Ignorant 
mind craves confusion, error, rebellion, and 
disorder. Finite mind craves knowledge, 
wisdom, understanding, and obedience. 

A spiritual woman can inspire man to 
greater deeds than any disembodied spirit. 
Behind every man who has accomplished in 
this world somewhere is a woman. The most 
Divine form of spiritual communion is that 
communion between the souls of a righteous 
man and a virtuous woman. 

To understand this truth is an essential 
element to spiritual attainment. We cannot 
ptuify that which of its nature is impure, 
but we can replace it with purification. Vir- 
tue, righteousness, and the desire for under- 
standing are essential stepping-stones for 
spirituality and spiritual commimion. Spir- 
itual Science gives us a solid foimdation for 
the continuation of chastity and righteous 



194 SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 

thinking. Spiritual communion does not 
presume to provide us with the knowledge 
as to what will happen to-morrow, but it 
must bring us an understanding of that 
which we should do to-day. While the gift 
of prophecy is a great stimulant to our faith, 
we must not forget the necessity of doing 
our work 

The performing of our mission in the 
world must serve as a developer of our spir- 
itual unfoldment, as well as to set a shining 
example for our fellow-men, which will en- 
courage the faith of mankind so that all will 
continue to serve in the vineyard of right- 
eousness. 

A religious atmosphere is essential to spir- 
itual communion ; but we must not forget that 
success in the ordinary duties of life is a part 
of OUT service in the world. Spiritual Science 
must help us to be healthy and strong — 
help us to think in harmony with truth con- 
cerning our business affairs as well as oiu: re- 
ligious affairs. He who is not successful in 
business cannot be successful in religion; but 



SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. i95 

to be successfxil in business does not mean 
that we are to be selfish in business. Some- 
times we can preach the gospel of righteous- 
ness by our conduct in business better than 
from the pulpit. A successful lawyer is one 
who develops the talent of reason, analysis, 
and logic in order that he may assist others 
in the protection of their civic rights. A 
physician develops a knowledge of certain 
inharmonious conditions, commonly calleP 
''disease/' in order that he may use this 
knowledge to better care for humanity and 
relieve sickness and suffering in those who 
are unable to help themselves. 

Many men and women undergo much 
deprivation that they may obtain an educa- 
tion in order that they may uplift htunanity. 
The astronomer may devote his life to a 
study of the stars that he may use this knowl- 
edge to promote a great science, and cause 
mankind to realize and appreciate the won- 
derful work o: Natiure and the magnitude of 
the universe. 

Any one who uses his knowledge and un- 



196 SPIRITUAL SCIENCE. 

derstanding for the cause of truth and right- 
eousness is a missionary for higher attainment. 
It is^ur duty to unfold and develop our phys- 
ical and mental talent for the upbuilding and 
service of mankind. It is more essential and 
important that we unfold and develop our 
spiritual talent, our spiritual vision and in- 
spiration, and spiritual prophecy, that we 
may be better able to demonstrate to the 
world with certainty the greatness and mag- 
nitude of the plan of eternal life, and that 
the salvation of one's soul is the most im- 
portant thing in the world. 



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